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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25500322">i've been so many places (but you're the one i run home to)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarkedMage/pseuds/MarkedMage'>MarkedMage</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Moon and All Her Stars [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Day Seven, F/M, Zutara Week 2020, rebirth baby, the tale of oma and shu, this fic is a monster im so sorry</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 04:21:03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>20,024</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25500322</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/MarkedMage/pseuds/MarkedMage</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“You have the greatest love story ever told,” Yue says. “You have been able to love the same person across two different lifetimes. It’s a love that exceeds time, lasting longer than tomorrow and farther than eternity. The love Oma and Shu held for each other carried on to this lifetime, but it is the love between you, Katara, and Zuko, that keeps it going.”</p><p>This is the tale of Oma and Shu. This is the tale of Katara and Zuko.</p><p>Zutara week, day seven: Rebirth</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Oma/Shu (Avatar)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Moon and All Her Stars [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1827331</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>52</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>268</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Zutara Week 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>i've been so many places (but you're the one i run home to)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for Zutara Week, Day Seven: Rebirth</p><p>Title from "Been Through" by EXO</p><p>Enjoy this monster of a mess this fic turned into. I hope it takes you on a journey in the same way it took me, and I hope i did Katara and Zuko some justice.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em> Rebirth (noun): the process of being reincarnated or born again </em>
</p><p>~0~</p><p>It begins, this story, like any other tale. A boy, and a girl.</p><p>The story of Oma and Shu is a tale as old as the earth itself. A warring Nation, two villages pitted against each other, a love that was doomed from the start. The death of Shu, a kind, gentle soul, and the birth of a new city, founded on unity and love, raised on the shoulders of a grieving Oma.</p><p>Reincarnation is not a widespread <em> thing </em>of the four nations. The only account of reincarnation is the Avatar, who's past lives help the current one deal with the unbalance in the world. No other accounts are known.</p><p>(Or at least, no other accounts have been found).</p><p>They say spirits are fickle creatures, and know more about the world than the humans do. This is true, but little do people know that it is also the spirits who determine who is reincarnated, and which souls are reborn into a new life. No one has witnessed this happen, and many believe this to be a legend, a rumor, a myth.</p><p>They are wrong.</p><p>The spirits, those who saw the good and the love blossoming from Oma and Shu's doomed romance, offered the couple one more chance. In the form of new love, new people, and a new world, with its own dangers to face.</p><p>This is the tale of Oma and Shu. This is the tale of Katara and Zuko.</p><p>~0~</p><p>Katara is fifteen years old, and she’s the reincarnation of Oma. Her people have never even heard of the tale, nor have they seen the legendary mountain city of Omashu, but Katara could tell them about the bloody massacres, the death of her lover, and the rise of a new kingdom, all with perfect clarity, if she wants.</p><p>(She could tell them about the heat in her blood, the rush of starlight bursting in her chest at the thought of a boy with hair as dark as night. She could tell them about how the heart flutters at the mere thought of him, or the way her soul tugs at a point far above the horizon, as if searching for something lost long ago.)</p><p>There are many things Katara could tell her tribe about the people beyond the ice, but she doesn't, because she’s the last waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe, and she doesn't want to draw any more attention to herself.</p><p>(A day of black snow. Fire and ash raining down around her people. Waterbenders lost, families torn apart. Hundreds of graves buried in the ice, lost to the tundra. A mother's love sacrificed for that of a daughter with ice in her blood.)</p><p>She doesn't even tell Sokka, as much as she wants to. She knows how he'd react- a scoff, a <em> quit reading those romance scrolls, iceface, </em> and storm off. Sokka is a boy bred with the snow in his heart and the love of his people burned into his soul, a boy of tangible beliefs. He would never understand. She loves her brother, but this is her secret, and hers alone.</p><p>Until Aang comes along. Aang, the last Airbender, a boy trapped beneath the ice. He can see through her clearly, his spirit even older than hers, but he doesn't tell. Maybe because it's the desperation in her eyes, the panic her soul exudes, the tremor in her limbs when she realizes he knows. </p><p>But when he places the gentle hand on his shoulder, sees the warmth in his eyes, the <em> will you go penguin sledding with me, </em>she relaxes, and takes his hand.</p><p>It's wonderful to be with Aang. They go penguin sledding and she shows him how she can freeze the air around them so that snowflakes form, and his eyes light up. But then they wander into the Fire Nation ship and set off the alarms, and that's when she knows her fragile peace has shattered.</p><p>They make it back to the tribe and Sokka, of course, is furious with her. He sends her and Aang to the igloo while he fortifies his wall (which is incredibly pathetic and wobbles with every slight gust of wind), and the mood of the village is somber. The people, who have always been hesitant around her, and outright distant with Aang, are colder than ever, and she closes the curtain door to hide their critical glares.</p><p>Aang bumps his shoulder against hers. "How many lives?" He asks her quietly. </p><p>"Just two," she replies, burying her face in her fist. "I think." She looks over at him. "What about you?"</p><p>His eyes darken. "Too many to count," he replies, and Katara doesn't know how to answer that. One previous life is a lot, so many memories that aren't hers and yet, <em> are </em>, and that's just from one other lifetime. She can't imagine how it must feel to have more than that resting on her shoulders.</p><p>"How long?" Aang asks.</p><p>She closes her eyes. She thinks of Oma and Shu, weaving tunnels under the earth under the watchful tutelage of the badgermoles. "Old," she finally says. "I don't know how old, but old."</p><p>Ancient really. Oma and Shu are a part of the old legends now. Stories written into the very backbone of this world.</p><p>They sit in silence until she hears Sokka shouting. Then, they both stumble out of the igloo, and there's black snow falling from the sky. Aang's eyes are wide with panic, and she tells him the Fire Nation has arrived. She ushers Aang behind the other children, letting their blues and whites shield the unnatural hues of his sunset clothes. Then, she goes to join her brother by the wall, standing defiantly as a gigantic metal husk of a Fire Nation ship lands.</p><p>"Go inside," he tells her, but she grasps his hand firmly in hers, condensing their air around his fingers. It begins to snow around their shoulders, and Sokka looks over to her, sees the icy glint in her gaze.</p><p>"No," she says. "I'm fighting with you. Try to stop me."</p><p>He sighs, and his fingers tighten around hers. He opens his mouth, whether to agree or send her back to the village, Katara doesn't know, because then, in that moment, the peace shatters. The ship smashes into the wall, but they stand firm, and Katara is reminded of the calm before the storm, when Oma's village clashed with Shu's, the quiet before she saw her kinsmen drown in blood. It's similar to this very moment, with Katara, standing hand in hand with her brother, as the ship's door unlatches, and smashes to the ground. She tenses, and Sokka hefts his spear, as a few figures emerge from the shadows.</p><p>(War may be new to this world Katara lives in, but war itself runs through Katara's blood, thicker than water. It is war that built her, molded her ancient soul into a woman made of the earth itself, took the innocent life of a waterbending child and forged her into a weapon of ice and snow, built on a foundation of warring Earth Kingdoms, and a love that transcended lifetimes.)</p><p>Katara would like to say that her encounter with the Fire Nation soldiers goes like any other. She'd like to say that she and her brother held their ground, staring bravely as the soldiers conducted their raid. She'd like to say that none of these soldiers fazed her, that the spirit of Oma helped her stand her ground.</p><p>This is not the case. Because the moment the young soldier steps off the ship, the moment his feet land on the cold ice of her homeland, Katara feels a strange shock crawl up her spine, a whisper of a memory flowing through her soul. A part of her tugs at the soldier, and it takes the entirety of her concentration to keep herself still.</p><p>(A boy flashes through her heart, a memory of a beautiful soul that took Oma's breath away. Earth and smoke dance on the forefront of Katara's consciousness, and her soul whispers for the familiarity of the soldier stepping down from the ship, reminding her of days long past.)</p><p>The soldier takes his helmet off, revealing a young man's face, scarred on the left side. Katara feels the breath leave her like a kick in the gut, and something within her soul swells, reaching for the familiarity of his heart pounding to an ancient melody that rings in the far recesses of Katara's memories.</p><p>He is Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation. A boy rumored to have dishonored his family, a boy banished from the Fire Nation, cursed to travel the world. Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation has arrived here in the South Pole. That's who he is to her tribe. But to Katara, he is Shu, her lost lover from days gone by.</p><p>She recognizes him instantly. Her past life, and his, flashes through her mind in a split second, making her heart pound and her body ache. Later, she'll describe it as a pull tugging her so strongly towards him, a string tethering her soul to his, that she almost couldn't stop it.</p><p>(<em>We are bound, you and I </em>.)</p><p>But when she meets his golden gaze, she's met with anger, and rage, but not recognition. His eyes flit over her as if she is nothing but a mere speck of dust floating through the atmosphere, and settle on Aang. Her heart deflates.</p><p>He doesn't know her. His eyes are dull, lacking the fire that she recalls from Oma's memories, the spark in his eyes when he looked at her. This boy looks at Katara, and she sees nothing flickering in his dull golden eyes. She is as much a stranger to him as he is to her, even if her soul recognizes him. </p><p>She'd like to run to him, throw her arms around his stiff body and melt against him, to let her soul wind through his and remind him of their lost love, their lost lives, so long ago. </p><p>A thought flashes through her mind. An image of Oma, traversing through the tunnels, lit by the light of the crystals. A boy waits for her in a cavern of green, and he turns. A boy with Zuko's face, brown eyes, and a brilliant smile. Oma throws herself into his arms, winding her hands through his hair, and a part of Katara's soul lifts. This is what she had, and when she looks at Zuko, she thinks, <em> this is what we still could have. </em>The longing is a heavy ache on her chest.</p><p>But she does not run to him, does not pull him close and hold him tight. She can't. Zuko and Aang make a deal, and she watches her soulmate and newfound friend disappear into the husk of the ship, and feels her heart leave along with them, leaving behind a shell which yearns to follow.</p><p>"I need to find them," she begs Sokka, loading up Appa's saddle. Sokka gives her a confused look, but her heart is pounding with longing, whether it's for the boy with air in his blood or the warrior prince of fire, she can't tell. She has to get Aang back, no matter what, and she has to see Zuko again, see the boy whose soul is bonded with Katara's, and not even oceans could separate them.</p><p>(They're her boys, <em> already, </em>whether they know it or not. And she'll follow them to the ends of the world if she has to.)</p><p>Sokka sighs, but he relents, packing up their few belongings and essentials and leaving the village. She and Sokka take Appa and follow Zuko's ship. It's hard, difficult work, and Katara almost loses her grip when she sees him again, looks into those narrowed golden eyes and sees Shu's spirit calling for Oma's. But she can't reach him, because he's so untouchable, so <em> Zuko </em>, and so she leaves her heart behind, snatching up Aang and disappearing over the horizon.</p><p>~0~</p><p>The next time she sees him, she's stealing a waterbending scroll, because she needs to be better. She's weak, her limbs barely controlling the wildness of the element, and needs to be better if she wants to protect Aang. So she steals the scroll, even if every fiber of her being screams out not too, and walks right into Zuko's trap. A whisper of, <em> I'll save you from the pirates </em>, and she's locked in his arms, and a part of her is terrified, but the other part, the part of Oma, rejoices of being reunited with her love. With Shu.</p><p>He's got her tied to a tree, and the way he circles her reminds her of how a tiger-seal stalks its next victim. </p><p>(Shu's eyes, sharp and inquisitive, following her as she walks away downriver, his eyes burning into the small of her back. <em> You're beautiful </em>, he tells her, and she'll never forget the look in his eyes, much like that of a tiger-seal, one that will never let it go. The warmth of Shu's gaze follows her wherever she goes, like a comforting security she never thought needed.)</p><p>"Tell me where he is and I won't hurt you or your brother," Zuko is saying. His eyes burn with desperation, and his fingers are twitching, yearning to grasp the Avatar and go home. There's a part of Katara that wishes for those same hands to touch her, the same way Shu used to touch Oma's waist reverently, the way their fingers kissed in a gentle embrace. But they are not Oma and Shu, they are Katara and Zuko, and this is a different life.</p><p>Katara growls. "Go jump in the river!" She says, and she watches Zuko's shoulder deflate.</p><p>"Try to understand," he says, eyes uncharacteristically soft. "I need to capture to restore something I've lost. My honor. Perhaps in exchange I can restore something you've lost." He reaches into his tunic and pulls out a worn blue band, and Katara's eyes widen at the relic.</p><p>"My mother's necklace!" She cries out, yearning for the only heirloom she's got left of her mother. She turns her glare onto Zuko. "How did you get that?"</p><p>Zuko scoffs. "I didn't steal it, if that's what you're wondering. But here's the deal, your necklace for the Avatar. You can have it back if you just tell me where he is."</p><p>Katara glowers defiantly. Aang is her soul brother, the only one who can relate to her plight. She'd never give him up. Not for Shu, not for her mother's necklace. "No!" She snarls. "Nothing you say or do will make me give up my friends!"</p><p>His eyes soften imperceptibly. A brief flash of brown mixed in gold, and she can swear she sees Shu in his moment of hesitation. Then he straightens, eyes glinting to solid gold once more. He orders the rest of his guards to go searching for the Avatar, leaving her alone with him and the pirate captain, who wanders further down the shore.</p><p>"What's your name?" Zuko asks her, after a pause. She turns her icy glare back onto him.</p><p>"Why would I tell you that?" she spits, yanking at her bonds.</p><p>He rolls his eyes. "Fine then," he snarls, throwing his hands up in frustration. "Maybe I'll just keep calling you 'peasant' then, if you're going to be like that!"</p><p>She rolls her eyes. "Call me anything you want," she hisses. "Nothing will get me to tell you where Aang is."</p><p>He steps in close, almost too close, and she inhales the familiar strangeness of his smell, cloves and spices, and warm, smoky earth. A flash to the secret tunnels, a green glow, and warm brown eyes hits her, and she reminds herself that this isn't that life anymore.</p><p>(<em>But it could be </em> , a part of her argues, even as her heart flutters under Zuko's burning gaze. <em> You could have this again.</em>) </p><p>"Just tell me where he is," Zuko begs, in an uncharacteristically quiet tone. "I need to restore my honor."</p><p>She scoffs. "And kidnapping a twelve year old boy to hand over to your maniac of a father will do that?"</p><p>His eyes harden. "It has to."</p><p>His words strike something deep within Katara, and a whisper of a time long past worms its way into her thoughts. She sees Shu, caressing her cheek, and he's whispering something to her. <em> This war will end </em> , he seems to be saying. <em> It has to </em>.</p><p>She realizes that time is repeating itself. Shu, on his way to a battle he will never return from, desperate to protect those he loves and end a war. Zuko, a boy whose soul has seen too many battles, seeking to find the Avatar and restore his honor, trying to end a war his family began.</p><p>"Why are you doing this?" She whispers, and feels the echo of Oma in her. <em> Why are you doing this to me? </em></p><p>(Shu, walking away from Oma to stop a battle from shedding more blood. Oma, a desperate plea to run, to stay with her, and his pledge to return. A meeting across the battlefield, hands reaching out, and a splatter of blood.)</p><p>Zuko starts, his eyes widening. Something flashes across his face, and Katara almost, for the briefest of moments, sees Shu mirrored in his gaze. Zuko's chest heaves, and he gasps, stumbling away from her.</p><p>"Who are you?" He breathes, and Katara is thrown back in time, to a different place, where a boy with raven black hair swam across a river to a girl of little significance, all for the sake of knowing her name.</p><p>She pauses, but her soul is begging for his, some semblance of the connection she knows is there, binding her heart to his. "I'm Katara," she whispers, and she can see the shudder running up his spine when she says her name.</p><p>(It's Oma and Shu all over again, meeting for the first time on the side of a river, with Shu whispering Oma's name in reverence. Like a star being born, hesitant touch of fingers against skin, and the heat flaring in Oma's heart when she watches Shu murmur her name over and over, as if tattooing it to his brain and searing it into his heart.)</p><p>"Katara," her name flows off of Zuko's tongue as easily as water drips from her fingers. He looks at her, and raises a hand, reaching out for her skin. "I know that voice..."</p><p>She yanks at her bonds, trying to ignore the frantic tugging on her soul as Zuko reaches out. Zuko's eyes are too bright, too startlingly golden against the paleness of his face. As much as she-<em> Oma- </em> yearns for him, this is not the same life as before. She is Oma, and he is Shu, but in this life, they are Katara and Zuko, and they are at war with each other. A war that cannot be undone by secret tunnels and a love that transcends time.</p><p>"Let me go," she begs. "I can't give you the Avatar. Please, you have to understand!<em> For me!" </em></p><p>(<em>Don't go. Please, don't leave. For me.) </em></p><p>Zuko frowns. "<em> For me..." </em> He repeats, slow and unsure, and his eyes search hers, desperate. "Where have-"</p><p>Whatever he's about to say is cut off in a great gust of wind, and Appa lands with all the ferocity of a hurricane. Zuko shouts and dives to the side, and Sokka jumps down from the saddle, brandishing his boomerang with a fierce snarl on his face. Katara's never been happier to see her brother, and she struggles, reaching for the familiarity of his soul, all the while ignoring the tug on her heart.</p><p>"You okay, Katara?" Sokka shouts, keeping an eye out as Aang dives, slicing at the ropes binding her to the tree. She nods, terse, using whatever skills she's able to muster, and pushes a giant wave down the river, sending the pirate who'd been guarding her washing down the bank. </p><p>Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Zuko stand, running a hand over his head, eyes burning with anger. "Peasant!" He snarls, reaching a hand out to her, but Katara whirls, dodging his reaching fingers, memories of Shu reaching for her flooding her thoughts. Sokka grabs her hand, pulling her back into the present, and they run.</p><p>"Come on!" Aang shouts, grabbing her hand. She holds tight as he jumps in the air, landing lightly in Appa's saddle, and Sokka scrambles up until he's safe above the ground. "<em> Yip yip!" </em></p><p>Katara peers over the rim of the saddle, not surprised to see Zuko's burning gaze locked on her. As Appa takes off, he stands, brandishing her mother's necklace.</p><p>"Wherever you go," he cries, the wind carrying his voice up. "I'll find you! I'll never stop searching, no matter what. I will always <em> find you!" </em></p><p>Katara's heart stills. His golden eyes seek hers, and as they fly away, she watches his mouth part, mouthing her name softly as they disappear into the horizon. <em> Katara </em> , she sees him whisper, and a part of her yearns for him. <em> I'll always find you. </em></p><p>Those were the exact same words Shu said to Oma before he breathed his last.</p><p>~0~</p><p>It becomes a pattern for Zuko to chase them across the world, to meet with Katara in a fierce clash of fire and ice. Once more, he finds them-<em> her- </em>and this time, they're in the spirit oasis, and she's fighting for her life, fighting for Aang's life. Zuko is furious in all of his passionate rage, firing powerful fire blasts that scorch Katara's hair. Katara gasps, losing ground, and Zuko taunts her.</p><p>"Water tribe peasant!" He shouts, and it's so different from the way Shu used to look at Oma, the way he used to whisper promises of love into her ear and touch her with all the reverence of a sculptor and his marble bust, and it makes tears pool in her eyes. She bites her lip, resolves her soul, and <em> yanks </em> at all the water in the atmosphere, encasing him in a wall of water. He's knocked unconscious immediately, and she leaves him suspended, shoving down her heartache and tending to Aang.</p><p>She briefly glances at Zuko. He's covered in bruises and scars, and his bottom lip is torn, blood making its way down his chin and throat in a scarlet stream. </p><p><em> I didn't do this to him</em>, she realizes. She makes her way back to him, since Aang doesn't really need her help anyway, and scrambles up the ice, settling in a little crook next to his limp body. She scans his form, noting the burn marks on his neck and collarbone, the bruise around his eye, the scratches on his cheeks. He's not in critical condition, but he's had these wounds for a while, and she notes that these could have been easily healed a long time ago. <em> Who could have done this? </em></p><p>She frowns, touching his mouth, feeling a spark in the space between her fingers and his skin, and she thinks about a boy with brown eyes, where the price of his love wasn't a brand across his face. Two boys, one soul, and a claim on her heart that runs deeper than the roots of the earth.</p><p>An image flashes across her mind, pulled from the recesses of her memories. There's a young man lying in front of her, and with a start she realizes this is Shu. He looks remarkably like Zuko, with a thick head of raven hair and light brown eyes. Shu is lying in a pool of blood; there's a starburst across his chest, and the shattered remains of a boulder are scattered around him. He looks up at her, blood sheeting from the tear in his lip, bruises across his cheekbones, and he opens his mouth. There's a whisper of <em> I love you, </em> and Katara watches the love of her-Oma's- life die.</p><p>She blinks, shaking her head and shoving the memory down. That was a long time ago, she reflects, shoving her sleeves up her arms. Another time, another life.</p><p>She reaches for Zuko, cradling his scarred cheek in her hand. His head lolls, and she realizes that this Zuko, this unconscious Fire Prince, looks more at ease in his sleep. There are no wrinkles around his forehead, his eyes are dropped, and there's no tension around his mouth. He'd be quite handsome, save for the phoenix tail.</p><p><em> The scar? </em> A little part of her brain whispers. She shakes her head. No, Zuko's scar does not take away from the handsomeness of his face. She almost doesn't want to think about what he'd look like without it. It's a part of who he is, and it doesn't make him look any less beautiful than she believes his soul to be.</p><p>She raises her hand, gloving it in cool water, and runs it over his lip. She doesn't want to heal all his wounds; no matter their shared history, their past lives, they are truly enemies in this one, and she can't let him get back to full strength. </p><p>His lip stitches itself back together, and she runs her hand over the rest of his exposed skin, removing the infection from the scratches and soothing the redness. She can't do anything about his black eye, unfortunately, but she's healed the worst of it.</p><p>She pulls away from him, making sure his head doesn't hit the ice. She stares at him, eyeing the gentle arch of his nose and the contrasting sharpness of his jaw. She looks at Zuko, and she sees Shu.</p><p>The longing in her soul is almost too much to bear. Every part of her has a little piece of Oma woven in, stitched into the very fabric of her soul, and all it wants is to be reunited with the one who was ripped away too soon, too long ago.</p><p>She leans in, breathing in the musky smell of earth and spices, the intangible tang of smoke and ash on his skin. She takes a deep breath, trying to settle the chaos churning in her heart, and presses her lips against his forehead. She feels the spark like a brand against her lips, the warmth of his skin burning it's mark forever into her heart, and she pulls away abruptly.</p><p>It's getting light. Aang will be getting back soon, and she doesn't want to be caught so close to Zuko, even if Aang does understand her history with him. She clambers down from the iceberg, making her way back to Aang, lost in thought.</p><p>She's not sure how to break the barrier on Zuko's mind, but she thinks that may be the key to get him to stop chasing them. It makes sense- if Zuko remembers he's her long lost lover, he might leave them alone. The strength of their love certainly is stronger that the supposed love of a madman, right?</p><p>(<em>Maybe he'll join you, </em> a voice within her murmurs, and Katara's heart <em> yearns </em> with longing. Two souls, as ancient as the earth itself, finally reunited and free of the curse of time.)</p><p>She's so lost in thought she doesn't realize that Zuko is stirring. She feels the gentle rays of the sun touch her face and raises her chin to greet it, and feels the barest brush of wind against her cheek. She frowns. There's no wind in the spirit oasis.</p><p>"You rise with the moon," she hears Zuko spit, and whirls. She hears the blast of fire before she sees it, and grabs a wave of water to counterattack, but the flames gush over her, stinging her soul and slamming her into a post. The air whooses out of her lungs, and she feels inky blackness rising to claim her. She gasps, reaching a hand out to Zuko, who has snatched Aang's collar. He stands over her and snarls, "I rise with the sun," but there's a faraway look in his golden eyes that doesn't match the ferocity of his tone. She tries to whisper his name, but <em> Shu </em> is on her lips, and the last thing she sees before the wave of darkness claims her is Zuko frowning, and his mouth forming the letters of her name.</p><p>When she wakes, Sokka is her side, and Yue hovers above, her bright blue eyes impossibly dark. Katara looks wildly around for Aang, but the Airbender is nowhere to be found. And neither is Zuko.</p><p>"He took Aang!" Katara cries, and she tells Sokka about her fight with Zuko. "He took him right out from under me!"</p><p>Sokka's eyes harden. "We're going to find him," he snarls, and offers Katara his hand. He pulls his sister to her feet, and his blue eyes burn with all the ferocity of a southern storm. "Whatever it takes."</p><p>They leave Yue in the safety of the oasis, taking Appa and flying out over the frozen wasteland above the tribe. It's not too long before they find Zuko and Aang, wrestling on the ice. Appa roars, catching their attention, and lands. </p><p>Zuko's eyes narrow when they find hers, and he readies himself. "Here for a rematch?" He snarls up to her, and her heart breaks. Gone is the unconscious boy, the gentle soul she saw in the slope of his regal mouth. Shu is gone, and only this angry husk of a prince, this fiery Zuko, remains.</p><p>"Trust me, Zuko," she whispers, taking a glove off one hand. Her eyes narrow, and she forces down all the memories of love and comfort she's found in his soul, locking it behind the icewall of her frozen heart. She needs to do this. She needs to protect Aang.</p><p>Zuko might be her soulmate, the love of her life from eons ago, but Aang is Katara's best friend, and she will never let anyone hurt him. Not even Zuko.</p><p>"This won't be much of a match," she says, instead of all the other things her soul wishes to say. She slams a hand down, and Zuko is crushed in a snow fall. He collapses into the ice, and Aang scrambles into the saddle.</p><p>"We can't leave him here," Aang says, and his sad grey eyes meet hers. He seems to understand the tumult in her soul, the way her heart almost can't bear to see the other half of her stranded in the ice. He won't survive out here on his own, and Aang knows this. Just as he knows if Zuko dies, so will Katara. Her soul will wither without him, in the same way Oma's did after Shu. Nothing can heal a broken heart, a shattered soul.</p><p>They take Zuko back to the oasis. When they arrive, a terrible scene is unfolding- Zhao has the moon spirit in his grasp, Yue is on the ground, surrounded by Fire Nation soldiers, and the moon is red.</p><p>"Zhao," Aang screams, panic welling up in his eyes. His body trembles<em> , </em> but he <em> throws </em>himself out of Appa's saddle all the same. Katara follows, refusing to let the red moon make her faint, despite the weakness tugging at the strings of her soul. They plead with Zhao, desperate to save the tribe and the balance of the world, but the commander slashes a bloodred arc of flame across the white fish, and the moon dies.</p><p>Katara doesn't really remember what happens exactly. Aang joins with the ocean spirit, becoming a giant glowing fish spirit, and sends the Fire Nation fleet back over the horizon. Yue sacrifices herself for the moon spirit, and Katara's spirit is rejuvenated when the moon is restored. Aang returns, and the sun rises over the Northern Tribe, welcoming a new dawn, a new day.</p><p>Sokka grieves for Yue. Katara knew that her brother loved the Northern Princess, but she did not know the extent of it. Not until now, when he's standing in the spirit oasis, staring at the place where Yue breathed her last, with a dull sadness pooling in his eyes. </p><p>(There's a girl, standing within the walls of a majestic mountain city, with eyes as lifeless as the tundra. A grave, deep within the earth, and a love, broken and scattered amidst the ruins of a long forgotten war. Hollow sadness in the girl's eyes, and the tomb echoes with the quiet of her grief.)</p><p>Katara knows that look, knows that pain. It's the kind of pain that's dull and consistent, like a sharp boulder sitting on your chest and digging into your bones, carving deep scars in your soul that will never heal. She's felt it before. For Kya. For Shu.</p><p>Zuko is gone. Katara isn't surprised, the bonds Aang tied around him were too loose, but she's got a feeling he did that on purpose. They wouldn't have known what to do with him, Katara especially.</p><p>He left a handprint burned into the side of the saddle, the only evidence that he'd ever been there at all. Katara looks at the handprint seared into the leather, and places hers over his. If it were his hand, her fingers would slide perfectly into place, slotted against his. A perfect fit.</p><p>She's going to see him again. She knows it, in the ache in her bones and the tug of her soul, calling out for his. They'll meet again, and sooner or later, she's going to remind him of their last life, their love, their history. The spirits didn't grant her another chance to be with him for nothing.</p><p>Whatever it takes. She is Oma, and he is Shu.</p><p>~0~</p><p>Katara knows that the threads of fate will not keep her separated from Zuko. She knows it with a clear sense of certainty, the kind that creeps under her skin and settles in her veins, imprinting it's shadow in her heart. They're connected, the two of them, the ties binding their souls together as ancient as the earth itself, stronger than the tug of time that comes to claim all lives at the end. She can feel his presence through the bond, like a tugging on her heart, and it's constant, a steady pulse that she's come to rely on. It tells her that he's still alive, and that maybe, just maybe, they have a chance.</p><p>She's imprisoned in the ancient catacombs of Ba Sing Se when they throw him in. Her eyes widen, absorbing this new Zuko before her, the one dressed in the robes of the outer ring, the one with a full head of raven soft hair and gentle eyes. He looks so much like the Shu in her memories, and her soul cries out in absolute joy.</p><p>(The tugging on her soul stops. Maybe because Zuko's here, or maybe because he's so much like Shu compared to before, but whatever it is, Oma's soul is content.)</p><p>"Zuko?" Katara gasps, and then her eyes harden. No matter how much Oma exists within her, <em> Zuko </em> is the one who attacked her in the North Pole, who tied her to a tree and taunted her with her mother's necklace. </p><p>His eyes widen, the scar on his face wrinkling when he recognizes her. A part of her settles at the gentleness pooling in his golden gaze, the tranquility a startling contrast to the usual anger and rage she's used to. </p><p>"Katara?" He gasps, and she shivers at the way her name easily rolls off his tongue. "What's going on? Why are you here?"</p><p>She frowns, hands flying to her hips."What do you mean, what's going on? Why did they throw you in here?" She snaps, and his eyes widen at her tone. "Oh wait, let me guess. It's a trap. So when Aang shows up to rescue me, you can finally have him in your little Fire Nation clutches."</p><p>She prepares herself for an onslaught of his anger, prepares for the raging heat and waves of hatred to wash over her, but none of it comes. He meets her gaze, eyes soft, and says nothing, <em> does </em> nothing, and looks away.</p><p>She feels the anger rise. Who does he think he is, to treat her so horrendously from the start, despite the softness she holds for him, and now to be greeted with... This? This boy, with gentle eyes and a silent soul? This boy, who looks nothing like the Zuko of old, and instead is a living replica of a gentle earthbender who died to save his love.</p><p>"You're a terrible person, you know that?" She cries, even though she doesn't believe a word she says. Still, she's on a roll, and she glares down at the boy she loves, trying to ignore every part of her soul screams to go to him. "Always following us, hunting the Avatar, trying to capture the world's last hope for peace! But what do you care about? You're the Fire Lord's son. Spreading war and violence and hatred is in your blood."</p><p><em> That </em>finally gets a rise out of him. His head whips towards her, and she sees the shadow of his rage lingering on the edges of his eyes. "You don't know what you're talking about." He spits.</p><p>That enrages her. She knows more than he could possibly imagine. She's living two lives in one: she's watching the people she loves die all over again, as well as becoming an unwilling pawn in two wars. Two wars that have taken everything she's ever known and crushed it before her eyes. "I don't?! How dare you!" She cries, and feels the air around her fingers condensing. "You have no idea what this war has put me through. Me personally!"</p><p>She turns away, unable to meet his gaze, and collapses, cupping her mouth and letting the tears fall. "The Fire Nation took my mother away from me!"</p><p>She hears Zuko shift uncomfortably behind her, the heat of his body a soothing presence, reminding her of a time when Shu held Oma in the caves, glowing in the light of the crystals. It brings another wave of tears to her eyes. Why does she have to lose everyone she loves? Kya, and even Zuko. He's hers, her Shu, but so distant even though he's standing right in front of her. </p><p>Katara places a hand on her necklace, letting tears roll down her cheeks and drip off her chin. She must look like a mess, but Zuko doesn't say a thing. He inches close to her, so close she could throw her arms around him, and doesn't say a word. It's only after a few minutes, once her tears have subsided and she's raised her head to glare bleakly in his direction, does he speak.</p><p>"I'm sorry." He says, his eyes mournful. "That's something we have in common." </p><p>Her head shoots up, eyes widening, and she sees Zuko in a completely different light. Zuko, the Fire Nation prince, the boy of fire who's been hunting her for ages. He's her lost love, Shu, but he's also her Zuko, a lost boy trying to find his place in the world, searching for something the war stole from him, just like it did her.</p><p>He tells her about his mother, who disappeared right after his grandfather passed. His mother, the kind Lady Ursa, who brought him to see the turtleducks, who praised him when Ozai sneered, who showed him the little pockets of joy within the rigid walls of the Fire Nation. Katara thinks about Zuko's mother, conjures up an image of a kind woman with deep eyes and hair like the night.</p><p>She goes out on a limb, since Zuko extended the olive branch, and tentatively tells Zuko about Kya, about how the Fire Nation sent a barrage of raids against their little village. She doesn't go into details of the story, and trails off. Instead, she changes the topic, and focuses on how her mother used to show her how to take care of her family, and Zuko listens. She's grateful for his silence- she can't bear to see anymore pity, can't stand another <em> I'm sorry. </em></p><p>He offers her his hand, and she takes it automatically. Like she suspected, her hand fits perfectly in his, and she feels his gaze burning it's imprint into her heart.</p><p>"Do you think," he whispers, and she looks at him. He swallows, and his hands are trembling. "Do you think our mothers would be proud of us?"</p><p>She's quiet. She's not sure how to answer that. Would Kya be proud of her? She's not sure- she's just a young girl flying around the world searching for answers to questions she doesn't even understand yet. She's just a girl with a soul as old as the earth, in love with another soul as old as hers, whose memory is locked within the deepest parts of his being.</p><p>"I don't know," she confesses. She turns her gaze on him, meeting his eyes, darkened with an emotion she can't decipher.  "But I am sorry that I yelled at you."</p><p>He smiles faintly. "It doesn't matter."</p><p>She frowns. "Yes it does," she snaps, and he blinks. "All this time, I've yelled at you, treated you like an animal, and I don't even know you. Just because we're on different sides doesn't mean I should treat you like this."</p><p>He frowns. "You don't know me," he echoes, yet somehow, he doesn't seem to believe her own words. "Why does that feel...wrong though?"</p><p>She blinks, and an ancient ache tugs at her soul. He searches his gaze, sees the echoes of Shu lingering on the outskirts of his soul. He's right there, right in front of her, so close she can taste the earth of his breath, the fires of his belly, and it's calling to her.</p><p>"Zuko," she breathes, and his eyes widen.</p><p>"Katara," he whispers, and her breath catches in her throat. "Why is this so familiar? I feel as if a part of my soul has known you for a long time. Can't you feel it too?" His eyes search hers. "Who are we to each other?" He breathes, and that's all it takes. She leans in, reaching out and cupping his cheek, right over his scar. He sucks in a breath, eyes narrowing, but leans in, and she tastes the smoke of his breath before his lips touch hers.</p><p>It's a spark, a simple burst of electricity that blooms on their lips. Katara gasps, and Zuko cries out, and all the memories of their past life rushes over her in a wave. </p><p>She sees young Shu, holding her hand as they wander along a river. Then she's crying in his arms, news of the war between their villages wrenching a bridge between them. The tunnels in the earth, the badger-moles teaching them to earthbend.</p><p>Their life flashes over in a heartbeat, but to Katara, it seems like a lifetime. Their meetings are secret, using the light of the crystals to guide their way. They lose countless villagers to the tunnels, but at the end of the day, she's safe in Shu's arms, and that's all that matters.</p><p>Shu dies before her, his chest exploding from the boulder. She watches him suffer until the very end, crying out her name as he drowns in his own blood. He blinks, looking up at her with pained eyes and a gasped intake of breath. Oma crying, <em> please I can't lose you. </em> Shu's smile, blood pouring out of his lips. A whisper of, <em> I'll find you again, in this life or the next, </em>and then he's gone. Oma is alone, and Omashu is born.</p><p>The memories fade, but linger in the recesses of her mind. She blinks, and looks at Zuko, who's staring at her as if she's the moon, mouth open and chest heaving for breath.</p><p>"Oma?" He gasps, and Katara nods.</p><p>"How are we... What-"</p><p>She shakes her head. "I don't know," she murmurs. "The spirits wanted to give us a second chance at life."</p><p>It's not what she wants to say, <em> I missed you, I needed you, You came back to me. Where have you been? I love you </em>. It's what she wants to say, but it's not what comes out.</p><p>(Maybe it's not the right time.)</p><p>Zuko looks at her, warmth flooding in his golden gaze, and she remembers the last time he looked at her like that. Shu, with Oma, with the light of the crystals illuminating his face. </p><p>"Katara," he whispers, and leans in. His hand comes up, cupping her jaw. "Oh Agni, Katara..."</p><p>"I've waited for you," she whispers, unable to help herself. The moment Zuko regained his memories of Shu and her, the moment he finally became the boy she knew his soul to be, was the exact same moment all her rage and anger died. "I waited for so long."</p><p>He closes his eyes. "All this time," he breathes. "All this time and I never knew."</p><p>She shakes her head. "How could you have known?" She whispers. "There was nothing you could've done."</p><p>He sighs. "Still," he whispers, and his eyes are full of regret. "All those things I said to you, everything I did. I'm so, so, sorry."</p><p>She leans in, her forehead pressing against his. "None of that matters now. We need to figure out a way out of here."</p><p>He sighs. "Knowing Azula, she's got this place barricaded and guarded with at least several Dai Li. Plus, Mai and Ty Lee are here, and I don't think we can take them all on."</p><p>Katara frowns. "Azula is your sister?" She asks, and he nods. "It's strange," she says. "For so long, it was your face that came to mind when I thought of the enemy. But now, all I see is your sister's."</p><p>Zuko turns away, placing a hand on his scar. "Oh," he murmurs. "My face."</p><p>Katara reaches for him, grabbing his shoulder. "No," she insists, and he turns back to her. "I saw your face and I saw Shu's, and I was thrown back in Oma's memories, back when our two villages were at war. It doesn't have anything to do with your scar."</p><p>He shrugs. "I get it, Katara," he says. "But it's ok. This scar marks me as a banished prince, a curse to chase down a living legend. But I'm learning to separate myself from this symbol of hate, even if I can never truly be rid of it." He smiles wearily at her. "And I understand," he says. "I can imagine how hard it must have been for you to look at me and see Shu, and remember the war that killed me. It must have been difficult."</p><p>She frowns, leaning up to cup his cheek. "This is a new life," she says firmly. "A chance for us to actually make a difference, to save lives before they're lost, not after. We can do this, Zuko," she says, and he closes his eyes. " As for your scar, maybe you can be free of it."</p><p>His eyes widen. "What do you mean?"</p><p>She reaches into the neck of her tunic, pulling out the vial that Pakku had given her. She tells him of its magical properties, and watches the hope flutter to life in his eyes, like a baby sparrowkeet, but before she can mend his face and stitch their souls back into one, Aang and Iroh burst in. She watches the spark of life flicker and die before her eyes, watches Zuko seal himself off, and wishes she could reach for him, but Iroh urges them to move. In a heartbeat, Aang takes her hand, and they're gone, and the lifeline tethering her soul to Zuko's trembles.</p><p>She feels it nearly break when he fires a shot at Aang, siding with Azula over her. There's tears in her eyes and her heart screams as it's torn to shreds, but she grits her teeth and forces herself to fight.</p><p>"Zuko!" She screams, tears pouring from her eyes as she meets his fire whips with her water ones. "Why are you doing this?"</p><p>His eyes narrow, burning with fury and something she can't quite name. "I have to do this," he snarls back. He twists, flames shooting from his hands, and she duck, narrowly avoiding the scorching heat. "Just because we loved each other in past lives does not mean we have to in this one!"</p><p>If she looked hard enough, she would have seen the heartbreak in his eyes, the pain and the disbelief in his own words. But she doesn't, too devastated by his cruel words to see her Shu underneath all the convoluted layers of her current love. </p><p>Her heart breaks, and the lifeline between them seems to shatter, falling to pieces. She stares at Zuko, her Shu, her long lost love, and wonders just how much the universe has to <em> steal </em> from her before it's satisfied.</p><p>"Zuko!" She cries out, but by then, the Dai Li have overwhelmed her, smashing her into the crystal stalagmites. She cries out, reaching out for him, but he turns away. Katara crashes to the ground, her heart and body stunned, and the rest of the world seems to fall away for a moment, the echoes of the battle ringing in her ears as her vision fails.</p><p>(She’s knocked unconscious for only a brief moment, but it's enough for her to miss the sorrow in Zuko’s eyes, his hands reaching for her, a cry of <em> no </em> falling from his lips as she falls. She hits the ground, and Zuko steps forward, one hand reaching out, but his sister calls. The pull for Katara- <em> Oma- </em>is strong, but the sweet promise of a family’s love is stronger, and he leaves his soulmate in a limp pile on the ground.)</p><p>Katara stirs, fingers clenching in the ground as tears fall freely from her eyes. Her heart is shattering, but this is not the time for her to cry. Zuko made his choice, and now Katara makes hers.</p><p>She gets up, bending with a ferocity in her blood that reminds her of the time Oma raised Omashu, fueled by rage and love. The Dai Li fall, and she whirls searching for Aang. He’s hovering above her head, tattoos glowing, and she reaches for him. </p><p>Her hopes are dashed the instant Azula shoots Aang with lightning. Katara mourns for the loss of another one of her friends, watching the boy who shares her same fate drop to the ground. She jumps, grabbing for him, and encases them in a sheath of water to cushion their fall, but it’s no use. Aang is gone, and Azula creeps on her, lightning flickering at her fingertips, and Katara closes her eyes. But Iroh arrives in time, allowing her to take Aang and steal away. She looks for Zuko one more time, Oma searching for Shu, but he's gone.</p><p>She uses the spirit oasis water meant for Zuko on Aang, and she watches his ancient spirit return to his body. The boy coughs, and Appa groans, and Katara cries, hugging her soul brother close.</p><p>"I'm sorry," he croaks. "I know what it feels like to lose your soulmate," and Katara doesn't even bother to question him. All his lives, his countless incarcerations- he knows more than anyone how it must feel to lose the one you love.</p><p>"Don't speak," she murmurs, holding him close. Close enough for him to feel her heart shattering into a million pieces, close enough for him to feel the tremor in her limbs to keep them from scattering to dust. "Just focus on yourself." </p><p>Sokka pulls Aang from her arms and settles him on the floor of the saddle. "Rest," he tells her, and she gratefully curls up into his chest. "I'll watch over you."</p><p>She closes her eyes and lets the comforting warmth of her brother soothe the ache in her soul as they fly away from Ba Sing Se, as they fly away from Zuko. With every mile they gain, Katara loses another part of her soul, leaving a path of shattered dreams soaked in golden eyes and scarred skin. </p><p>~0~</p><p>When Oma lost Shu, she created the city of Omashu, in her lover's honor. But Oma didn't live long enough to see her city prosper; doctors said she died of an unknown disease, still nameless to this day. She died young, in her prime, and her last wish was to be buried next to Shu, in her beloved cave.</p><p>Katara knows what she died of. She died of a broken heart and a shattered spirit. Nothing can fix it, not a waterbender's gentle touch, or a visit to the spirit world, or the miracle of the spirit oasis. </p><p>(For how do you heal a spirit when it's missing its lost counterpart? You can't fix a heart if half of it is gone.)</p><p>Katara wonders if this is what she will die from. Not burning to death in Azula's fiery grip, not getting sliced apart from Fire Nation soldiers. Just a quiet slip away into the void, letting the darkness soothe the tattered remains of what's left of her soul.</p><p>She refuses to let it take her so easily. She still has a job to do. Aang is still reeling from the invasion, having not been able to defeat the Firelord, and the rest of the gang isn't better off. Her father is gone, their army is in disarray, all rotting away in various prisons, and she's in charge of the tattered remains of their group. </p><p>So when Zuko shows up at the Western Air Temple, telling them that he wants to teach Aang firebending, she almost loses control of her composure, her vice-like grip on her heart nearly snapping at his presence. Shu is present in the gentleness of Zuko's gaze, the proud lift of his shoulders and a bright light around him, the gloominess of the Fire Nation lifted from his psyche. But he's still Zuko, even if he is Shu, and what he did to her, did to them, still weighs heavily on her soul like a scar she cannot erase.</p><p>She corners him after everyone has left. His golden eyes widen, and she can see Shu reflected back at her, just as he can probably see Oma in her eyes. "You might have everyone else here buying your transformation," she snarls, jabbing a finger into his chest even as she struggles to control the pounding of her heart. "But you and I both know you've struggled with doing the right thing in the past. Let me make things perfectly clear. No matter who you are, or who we've been to each other, if you give me even the slightest reason that you might hurt Aang, you won't have to worry about your destiny anymore. Because I'll make sure your destiny ends right then and there, <em> permanently </em>."</p><p>Zuko frowns. "Katara," he murmurs, hand reaching out for her. "I know I messed up-"</p><p>"Messed up?" She echoes, eyes narrowing. "You made it very clear that you valued your family's cruelty over our past lives, Zuko. Even after finding out who you are, and how much you mean to me, you betrayed us. You threw away everything Oma and Shu had, what we could have had, when you sided with Azula. I thought you had changed."</p><p>"I have changed!" He pleads. "Katara, I was conflicted and hurt. Can you blame me? I spent my entire life trying to please my family and I just found out that I'm the reincarnation of Shu, and that you're Oma. I spent months hunting you down as an enemy only to find you that you're my soul-"</p><p>"No," she says coldly, turning away from him. Oma cries out for him, but she pushes the longing down, letting the rage simmer in her heart instead. "You broke my trust the moment you sided with Azula, rather than me. You chose hatred over love, Zuko, and I cannot forgive you."</p><p>"How can I make it up to you?" He begs.</p><p>She walks away, refusing to look back and see Shu looking at her, refuses to let their souls mend and their hearts heal together. No matter who they are, Oma and Shu, or Katara and Zuko, she won't let herself be broken again. She won't lose her love again, not if she locks it away in her soul and seals her heart away.</p><p>"You can't."</p><p>She leaves, refusing to look back, and she firmly tells herself that they don't have to be Oma and Shu in this life. They don't.</p><p>(Somewhere deep down she feels like she's lying to herself.)</p><p>A few days pass like this, a tense, eerie quiet in which the gang struggles to live with Zuko in their midst. Sokka is outright rude and distrustful, Aang is quiet and hesitant. Haru and the others don't mind him too much, mainly because they've never actually met Zuko, but are hesitant around him all the same. Toph is the only one who treats Zuko normally, and that is roughing him up with a few boulders and punching him in the shoulder. There are tears in Zuko's eyes after she's done, and he's gripping his arm as if his life depends on it, but he's smiling and clinging to her side.</p><p>Katara doesn't know how to deal with it. He doesn't try to speak to her, doesn't try to right the wrongs and soothe the scars on her heart, doesn't try to mend the bond between their ancient souls. But he helps her with the dishes, folds her laundry, and trains Aang with a gentle and quiet hand she knows comes from Shu.</p><p>"Are you alright?" Aang asks her after a lengthy sparring session. Zuko is nearby, showing Sokka a complicated sword fighting move, and Katara watches the muscles in his back flex as he moves, imagining a different life when a boy of the Earth Kingdom showed a girl from a warring village how to move mountains.</p><p>"I don't know," she answers truthfully. Aang is her soul brother, and he of all people would understand the conflict warring within Katara's heart. The cry of Oma's soul to reach for Zuko, wrap him in her arms and never let go, in stark contrast to Katara's distrust and terror of losing something precious once more.</p><p>Aang's eyes are soft, and he looks over to Zuko. "Zuko's been dealt a hard hand in life, that's for sure," he murmurs. "I understand how hard it must be for you. But you should know, ever since he's joined us, I've never sensed that much peace coming from him before. He used to be filled with a lot of tension and chaos and confusion, but now? He's happier, and I think that has a lot to do with you."</p><p>She doesn't respond. Aang sighs, and walks away, but Katara reaches out, grabbing his arm. "I can't forgive him," she murmurs. "I just... can't."</p><p>Aang turns his hand over taking her palm. "That's okay," he whispers. "I just wanted you to know. He won't betray you. Not like last time."</p><p>~0~</p><p>They came from warring villages, distrust running thicker than blood through their veins. But love is stronger than fear, stronger than just about anything in the universe, and so, the world watched as Shu whittled down Oma's defenses, wormed his way under her shields and burrowed into her heart, striking away at the doubt and fear until nothing but trust remained.</p><p>Aang is right. Zuko doesn't betray them- betray her. Far from it. Zuko is Shu, and he earns the gang's trust, making the tugging on Katara's heart constant and insistent, the memories of their past love consuming her, bit by bit.</p><p>Toph trusts Zuko, and maybe she always did. She clings to him like Momo does Aang, and Katara can't help but smile when she sees the slight earthbender hanging off his arm.</p><p>(It's Shu, you see. In the moments where Toph clings to Zuko, Katara sees Shu, in the brightness of his eyes and the way his face lights up when he smiles. When Toph shows Zuko some bending moves, and she sees the memories of who they are swimming in the endless depths of his gaze.)</p><p>Aang is the next to fall for Zuko's charms. He takes to Zuko easily, and Katara admires their dynamic. Aang is a gentle spirit, quick to forgive, and she wishes she could do the same. But Aang has thousands of lives, more experience than she can comprehend, and a lot more to give than she's able to.</p><p>Zuko touches Aang with a gentle hand, manuvering the boy through his firebending forms with grace and poise. His voice is gentle but firm, a good medium between Katara's softer hand and Toph's imperious training. When Katara watches him, she remembers what it felt like to have Shu teach Oma earthbending, going over the forms they learned from the badgermoles. Sometimes, when she watches them, she imagines herself in Aang's place, and it's Zuko's hands on her waist, her arms, gentle and loving, transported back in time.</p><p>Sokka is the last to trust Zuko, and Katara half expects her brother to never accept Zuko as one of <em> them </em>, but the day comes when they're nowhere to be found, and with a sinking feeling in her gut (but a swell of fondness rising in her soul), she knows.</p><p>It's Shu all over again, wiggling his way into the hearts of all the people he touches, replacing fear with warmth, breaking boundaries, and mending wounds. Katara is the last one left standing, and sometimes, late at night, when she's weak and yearning, she feels like surrendering.</p><p>(She wonders how long she can keep the tides at bay, keep her emotions in check and keep Zuko at an arm's length. She made a promise to lock her heart away, somewhere where he could never hurt it again, but as she watches the rest of the gang slowly learn what trust means, she wonders if it's all worth it.)</p><p>Zuko brings her father back to her. Somehow, he does it, and he brings Suki home too. There's an airship at their door, and out spills Sokka and Suki, and her father and her reincarnated lover. She throws herself into her father's arms, hugging him close and inhaling the familiar iron and rain that clings to Hakoda's skin.</p><p>"How are you here?" She asks, eyes flitting from Sokka to Zuko. She lets go of her father, reaching for Suki, and the Kyoshi Warrior grins, pulling her in for a crushing hug. "I missed you," she breathes, and the part of her that is Oma reaches out. <em> I missed you,</em> she cries, and yearns for Shu's response.</p><p>"We broke into the Boiling Rock," Zuko says, and she meets his golden gaze, something almost like regret pooling in his eyes. "It's the Fire Nation's top security prison."</p><p>"But how?" Toph says, striding forward and gripping Sokka's forearm in greeting. Sokka smiles, pulling the slight earthbender in a hug, and turns to Zuko with a gleam in his eyes.</p><p>Sokka grabs at Zuko's arm, pulling him close. "Zuko came to help me get Dad. I wouldn't have gotten out of there alive if it weren't for him." He tells them about the prison riot, taking The warden as a prisoner, the fight on the gondola. He talks, animated, and Katara can't help the rush of fondness swelling over her as she watches her brother.</p><p>(<em>The things this boy would do for you, </em> a little part of her whispers. Cross a river and risk her village's wrath. Break into a prison to return her lost father to her. <em> Fight to the death, for her.) </em></p><p>Katara looks over to Zuko, sees him rub at the back of his head, face burning. It elicits a memory of Shu, dripping with river water, blushing furiously and rubbing his head, asking for Oma's name with a stammering voice. </p><p>"You would have been fine without me," he says. Katara's eyes narrow, but Hakoda walks over to him, pulls him into a hug. </p><p>"Thank you," he father says, and the rest of the gang piles onto Zuko, wrapping him in a warm hug. Katara watches his eyes grow soft, brown bleeding into the gold of his irises, and her heart tugs with longing. She swallows, tamps it down, and turns away, drowning out the image of Zuko's sorrowful eyes, and walks away.</p><p>(They follow her, wherever she goes. Zuko's golden gaze, echoes of brown eyes swimming with warmth, burning right through her and picking her apart, tearing her open to see the ancient soul lying just beneath her skin.)</p><p>Later, she corners him in the woods while he's out gathering firewood. She watches him for a moment, imagines a time when she would have snuck up behind him and snaked her arms around his waist, kiss his neck and whisper in his ear. A time when they were just a boy and a girl, in the heart of the Earth Kingdom, and nothing stood in their way. Then she shakes her head and steps forward, covering her heart in an armor of ice.</p><p>"Why did you do it?" She hisses, and he jumps, dropping his armful of sticks, eyes comically wide.</p><p>"Do what?" He asks, and she huffs.</p><p>"Why are you doing this?" She gestures between them, as if she can explain everything that's happening, but apparently it works, because his eyes soften, and his mouth opens in a silent <em> oh. </em></p><p>"If you think, for one minute," he says, and his voice comes out harsher than she expected. "That I would let these innocent people suffer because of my wretched family, then you don't know me at all." Katara opens her mouth to retort, but he steps in, quicker than a viper. He's close, <em> too </em>close, and his sudden proximity has Katara struggling to breathe. It's suddenly too hard, their past and present blending in until Katara isn't sure which life she's living, losing herself to brown- or gold?- of Zuko's eyes.</p><p>"But you do know me, Katara," Zuko says, leaning in, until their breaths mingle, his nose just barely brushing hers. She sucks in a breath, feels his fingers dance along her arm, tease at her hand, and a part of her wants to hold tight, twine hers through his and never let go. </p><p>"Tell me, Katara," Zuko says. "Would Shu ever let the people he loves suffer?"</p><p>(<em>I have to do this </em> , Shu says, taking Oma's face in his hands, kissing her until the breath leaves her lungs. His eyes are dark, deep brown, filled with love, and he caresses her cheeks softly. <em> I can't let innocent people die. This war must end. It has to. For us.) </em></p><p>She pulls away, shaking her head and pushing down the memories surging up like waves on the beach. Zuko backs away, the gold bleeding back into his eyes, and the moment breaks.</p><p>"I still don't forgive you," she says, backing away slowly. The memories lap at her consciousness, growing stronger and stronger with each wave, threatening to overwhelm her in a sea of all her- and Oma's- love for this boy kissed by fire and earth. "Nothing you could do can make me forgive you." </p><p>He sighs. "Everyone else seems to trust me," he says, voice soft, gentle, <em> Shu's. </em>"Why can't you?"</p><p>She whirls, anger snapping at the tip of her tongue, the air condensing around her like a thick shield. "Oh, everyone trusts you now?" She snarls, eyes narrowed. "I was the first person to trust your, remember? Back in Ba Sing Se? <em> The river?" </em></p><p>His eyes widen, and she knows what he's thinking. The day they met, the day he touched her hand and asked for her name. The weeks following, where he broke down all her barriers and wormed his way into her heart, building up a bond of trust and love that would last lifetimes.</p><p>He opens his mouth, but Katara cuts him off with a wave of her hand. "You betrayed me," she glowers. "You don't get to show up here, suddenly changed, and expect me to just fall for you as if everything you did was just suddenly erased. The others may love you now, and trust you, but I can't. Not after what you put me through."</p><p>"Katara, I-"</p><p>She turns around. "Thank you for bringing my father back," she says, fists clenched. "But this changes nothing."</p><p>She storms away, leaving Zuko in the woods. The night is dark, bringing back memories of the caves, and a boy with raven hair and soft brown eyes, and she furiously dashes away the tears that have sprung. </p><p><em> Don't do this, </em> a little voice inside her whispers. Oma. Don't <em> deprive us of something we've been waiting eons to have. </em></p><p>"Shut up," she murmurs to herself, kicking at a rock as she makes her way back into the temple. "He gave up that right the minute he betrayed me."</p><p><em> You can't deny love, </em>the voice whispers. Katara growls, shoving the voice and the longing down, and runs for her room, only to stop by the fireplace, where Sokka and Suki sit.</p><p>"I missed you," Sokka was saying, and Katara watches as her brother strokes along Suki's cheek, cupping her face in his hands. "I'm sorry it took me so long."</p><p>Suki laughs, leaning her forehead against Sokka's, taking his hand and lacing his fingers through hers. "I knew you'd find me eventually," she says. "No matter what mess you get yourself into, you always come back."</p><p><em> I'll find you again. </em>Shu, with a broken chest and blood bubbling from his lips, and Oma, with tears pouring out of her eyes and her hands caked with mud, begging for the life of a boy she loves. A promise, sealing their dates, breaking the will of time and providing a second chance.</p><p>"I can't believe it's come to this," Sokka whispers. "Who knew that we'd end up here, together, like this? After everything I said to you, everything I did. Maybe I don't deserve-"</p><p>"Shush," Suki says, kissing Sokka softly. When she pulls away, even Katara can see the glimmer in Sokka's eyes, the affection pouring out of him in soft waves as he holds the Kyoshi Warrior close. "You made mistakes, that's true. But it doesn't make me love you any less."</p><p>Katara turns, backing away from the scene unraveling before her, and makes her way quietly to her rooms.</p><p>Her father finds her a little while later, poking his head in. "Hey," he says, sliding onto her pallet. "What's troubling you?"</p><p>"Nothing," she says, but her father takes her chin in his hand, forces her to meet his gentle, ever patient, gaze, and she sighs.</p><p>"Katara," he says. "I think I would know when one of my children isn't happy. I'd be a terrible father if I didn't."</p><p>Katara shrugs. "It's nothing important."</p><p>Hakoda's silence is palpable, resting over her shoulders like an insistent nudge, prodding at her until she relents.</p><p>"Do you believe in rebirth?" Katara asks, and Hakoda frowns, obviously realizing there's more to her question than she's willing to give.</p><p>"What do you mean?"</p><p>Katara waves vaguely into the distance. "Suppose two people were reincarnated because one of them was killed in the previous life before they could be together," she begins. "And they have a chance to be together in their new life, but one of them does something terrible. Do you think that future is still possible, or is their second chance ruined?"</p><p>Her father is quiet, and when she looks at him, he's frowning, blue eyes furrowed in concentration.</p><p>"Well," he starts, and Katara grips her blankets. "The spirits are the ones who chose who is reborn. Last I checked, the only individual who gets this blessing is the Avatar. But if the spirits chose others to be reborn, they must have a good reason." Hakoda glances at Katara, and there's <em> something </em>hovering on the edges of his gaze that makes Katara's heart flip. "If they got a second chance, then yes, it's possible," he whispers. "If I had a second chance with your mother, I'd take it, no matter the cost."</p><p>"But what if they did something terrible?" Katara argues. "What if they betrayed your trust, made it impossible for you to forgive them?"</p><p>Hakoda shrugs. "Trust can be built again," he says. "It will take a while to forgive, but I think, as long as you love that person, everything will be alright in the end." He looks at her, and there's a knowing glint in his eyes. He might not believe in reincarnation, nor have a full understanding of Katara's plight, but she knows with certainty that her father believes in <em> her. </em>"Think of it this way, as long as you love them, then there's no other reason why you can't be together. Reasons are for the ones you're meant to lose."</p><p>Hakoda leans forward, pulling Katara into a hug, kissing her forehead. "I love you, Katara," he murmurs. "Forever. And that's the thing about love- the fact that it's sort of irrevocable."</p><p>~0~</p><p>Then the day comes when Zuko corners her outside her tent, eyes dark and burning. "I know who killed your mother," is what he says, and something deep within Katara stirs. She doesn't say much, but later that night, and an argument with Sokka and Aang, she finds herself in Appa's saddle, heading for the communications tower that would lead her to her mother's killer.</p><p>"Don't listen to Aang," Zuko tells her, and she risks a glance at him. He's not looking at her, eyes firmly locked onto the horizon. "Do what your heart tells you." This time, he looks at her, and his eyes are soft. "What you've always done."</p><p>"Don't do that," she whispers. "Don't."</p><p>He frowns. "Katara, I-"</p><p>"It hurts," she says simply, looking away from him. "To have you here so close, to look at you and find my Shu swimming in your soul, but with the knowledge that it was you, Zuko, who betrayed me under Ba Sing Se. It hurts and I'm confused and I don't know how to act around you."</p><p>He's quiet. "Katara," he says at last. "I know I hurt you, and believe me, this is not my way of apologizing to you. I wouldn't even know where to start." She frowns, and looks up at him, and his eyes are sorrowful. "I just wanted to show you that I'm on your side. You may never forgive me, which you have every right to do so, but I wanted to give this to you, so you could get the closure you deserve. The Fire Nation took your mother away from you," his voice lowers to a dull rasp. "It's only fitting that I grant you a chance to make your peace." </p><p>He smiles ruefully at her. "I screwed up things between you and I, I know that," he murmurs. He turns his gaze back to the horizon, flicking Appa's reins. "But maybe I can fix this."</p><p>She doesn't know what to say to that, so she sits in silence for the rest of the trip, eyes fixed on the water below her, and tries to sort out the confusion simmering in her soul.</p><p>When they arrive at the communications tower, Appa drops them below the island, and Katara bends a sheet of ice for them to get closer. Using the waves, she vaults their ice block into the air, allowing them to jump into the safety of the bushes surrounding the tower. It doesn't take long- the soldiers guarding the tower are idiots at best, and they find the location of the Southern Raiders. <em> Whale Tail Island</em>.</p><p>She takes the reins and flies the entire way to the island. Zuko is quiet for most of the ride, but towards the end of the journey, he sidles over to her. "How'd she die?" He asks quietly, and Katara shudders.</p><p>"I went to go find her," she whispers, her mind journeying back to that terrible day. "When I got to the igloo, the captain was already there. Mom told me to find Dad, and I ran, as fast as I could. But we were too late. When we got back home, the man was gone. And so was she." She cuts off with a choked sob, unable to tell Zuko of the seared hole in her mother's chest, of the smell of charred flesh and the blank, staring eyes of her mother. She can't bear to tell Zuko of the way her father screamed, flying to her mother's side, of Sokka vomiting when he came to the scene. She doesn't know how to.</p><p>Zuko, to his credit, doesn't pry. He lays a heavy hand on her shoulder, and she leans into him, letting the overwhelming calmness of his-Shu's-presence offer some comfort.</p><p>"Your Mother was a brave woman," he says softly. "Thank you for telling me."</p><p>They sit in silence for the rest of the journey. Katara doesn't move from Zuko's side, glued to his skin and breathing in his smoke and flames, the earthen scent of his soul soothing her. Only when the ship of the Southern Raiders does she move, flicking her hands out and overwhelming the ship in a torrential downpour of ocean water.</p><p>It's the wrong man, though. She realizes it the moment she grips his blood, and sees the fear pooling in his brown eyes. </p><p>Brown eyes. Not gold. The captain who killed her mother had gold eyes, dead eyes, filled with malice. Not fear. <em> Never </em>fear.</p><p>The current captain tells her who she’s looking for and where to find him. His name, the man who took her mother, is Yon Rha, and she and Zuko take Appa to the island where she can find him. When Zuko asks her about her power, she simply tells him, <em> it's bloodbending, </em> and he doesn't pry further.</p><p>She doesn't exact her revenge on Yon Rha. She tells him that she was the waterbender he was sent to kill, and watches his eyes widen with disbelief. Only when she freezes the rain surrounding them do his eyes change, and she watches the pain and fear bleed into his gaze. But when she goes for the kill, she thinks of Shu and Oma, of how her past life could have drowned the warring villages in a sea of earth when Shu died. But Oma didn't seek revenge- she couldn't. Shu had been a soul of kindness, a good, kindred spirit, and Oma couldn't drown his memory in a sea of blood.</p><p>Time repeats itself, and Katara lets Yon Rha live. She turns to Zuko, with tears in her eyes, and says, "Take me home."</p><p>He does. They find the rest of the gang and travel to Ember Island, hiding out in the abandoned Firelord's mansion. It's there, on the warm sandy beaches, that she wraps Zuko in a hug, and whispers. "I forgive you, Zuko."</p><p>(There's a tale that starts with a boy and a girl in a kingdom of earth. Separated by war, torn apart by the distance between time and life, scattered to the cosmos. A tale about reunion and heartbreak, betrayal and fear, and a girl with water in her blood, learning once again, how to trust a boy with hair as dark as night, the smell of smoke and earth on his skin.) </p><p>~0~</p><p>There's a change in the air. Katara can feel it settle on her like a second skin, a tranquility in her bones even despite the precarious state of the world. She's calm because she's finally found Shu in the chaos of the Fire Prince's soul, and Zuko has finally figured out where he stands.</p><p>Everyone can feel the change in the air. Katara no longer glares at Zuko with ice in her eyes, and the gang often finds the two of them sparring on the beach, a bright dance of fire and water, swirling around each other in a perpetual dance. Aang finds her one night, sitting on the beach, and he tells her he's happy for her. </p><p>"Your soul is glowing," he tells her. "I'm glad, you deserve it."</p><p>Routine settles in as the days bleed together. Katara and Zuko wake with the sun, and practice their bending before everyone wakes. Then Zuko makes tea while Katara prepares breakfast, and then takes Aang for bending practice in the courtyard. Sokka and Suki duel, and then Toph takes Aang after lunch. The afternoon is left free, and Katara often finds herself hiking the back hills with Zuko by her side.</p><p>The intimacy of their past lives winds tight around her, drawing her close in ways she never really felt before, at least, not in this life. A gentle touch, something which she yearned for but refrained from, is easy, and she finds that touching Zuko feels like she's bathing in sunlight. </p><p>Intimacy, with Zuko, is similar to Oma and Shu, yet different in its own beautiful way. Oma and Shu shared a love and fondness that rivaled even the birth of the world itself. They were adults, born out of war and hatred and blood. Katara and Zuko are children in comparison, but the same war runs in their veins. Their intimacy is built on trust and betrayal, of longing rushing through their veins and a love that runs as deep as the earth.</p><p>"This is where my mother used to bring me," he tells her one day, where they sit on a grassy bluff overlooking the sea. They're out above the house, and if Katara squints, she can make out the tiny, wriggling forms of Aang and Toph bending in the courtyard.</p><p>"It's a beautiful view," she says, and leans into Zuko. He coughs, and she can feel his heart pounding through his tunic.</p><p>"Katara," Zuko says, and he licks his lips, eyes tight with regret. His voice is rough, tired, and she thinks he's never sounded so vehement, so sorrowful, and desperate to be heard. "I know you've said you've forgiven me, but I never truly apologized to you for betraying your trust under Ba Sing Se."</p><p>She sighs. "Zuko-"</p><p>“I was cruel to you,” he mumbles, head bent so his lips press against her head, tousling her hair. “I betrayed your trust, betrayed who we are, and you didn't deserve that."</p><p>It's clear in the way that he presses his face into his hair, body trembling, that he hates himself for what he did to her, Katara realizes. Her heart slows and stutters, tears cracking through at the realization of how much it must have hurt Zuko to hurt her. In the time since he's joined them, she's come to realize that Zuko never let himself hurt her in the way he did the first time- he was always so careful, so attentive, but the guilt of his initial betrayal must have been eating him alive.</p><p>“It’s okay,” she breathes. "I get it. I didn't at first, Zuko. I was so unbelievably hurt and broken, and I just felt like it was like it was before, when Oma lost Shu. I've known who I was since the moment I was born, and I never realized what it must have been like for you to go through life believing one thing and then learning another." She sighs. "I can understand how conflicted and confused you were. It doesn't excuse what you did, but now I know how much it must have hurt you to be so torn."</p><p>He shudders, and his head crushes down onto hers, arms coming around her, hugging her tight. He shakes his head, murmuring <em> I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry </em> into her temple. Quiet, hoarse, and shaking, and it reminds her of how Shu was in the moments leading to his death, the soft fluttering of his soul, so limp in her hands.</p><p>She turns her head, leaning into the warm skin of his throat, and hugs him, crushing him to her with the same intensity as he'd done for her. "I forgive you, Zuko," she whispers, and his heart skips.</p><p>Zuko sighs, long, wearied, surrendering to her. He pushes his face into her throat, and Katara smiles softly, running her fingers through his hair, curling into the throat of his tunic. They stay locked in this embrace, letting the island breeze caress their shoulders in a loving embrace. It isn't the first time Katara has been locked in an embrace with Zuko, and won't be the last, and deep down, Oma cries with joy.</p><p>There's something different about this moment, locked in an embrace with Zuko. Intimate and vulnerable, the air thick and heavy with the memories of the past saturated into the very fabric of the world. The emotions are written in Zuko's face, etched in the soul of Shu he carries within him, and when Katara studies him, she can see the ancient spirit that lies beneath. It's a good moment, a beautiful joining, and Katara is reminded of how Oma and Shu first met. </p><p>How far they have come, a boy of fire, with a tattered heart and an ancient soul, and herself, a girl of water with a spirit that could move mountains. How far they have come since the first war, since the first splatter of blood across the stones. Since his first betrayal, a slip of the tongue in crystal catacombs saturated in pain, of broken hearts and a trail of yearning memories.</p><p>(Maybe time doesn't just rip apart souls. Maybe it heals, and brings them closer than they ever were before.)</p><p>"Do you remember," Zuko begins, and his voice is a low rasp. "When we first met?"</p><p>"Which time?"</p><p>"The first."</p><p>She frowns, and sits up, turning her head to look at him. "At the river?" She asks, and he nods.</p><p>"You were sitting on the bank," he recalls, laying back onto the ground and staring up at the sky. "It was summer, and you had your skirts hiked up, your feet in the water."</p><p>She nods. "You saw me from the other side of the bank," she remembers. "I remember being scared, since we were in the middle of a war, and I ran away. But then I went back to the river again the next day, and you were waiting for me."</p><p>He looks at her. "I thought you were the most beautiful woman I've ever seen," he confesses. "And I remember swimming to your side of the river, asking you for your name."</p><p>"Oma," she whispers, reliving the past, where a beautiful brown-eyed man had jumped into the river, when he stood before her, clothes drenched and clinging to his skin, and a brightness in his eyes. <em> Hi, </em> he had breathed, taking her hand. <em> What is your name? </em></p><p>Zuko smiles. "I'm Shu," he says, and one hand reaches out and touches her hand. "It's so nice to finally meet you."</p><p>They sit there, eyes swimming with the ghosts of their past, and Katara squeezes his hand softly. "I still think it's true," Zuko finally says. His hand tightens it's hold on hers, and he props himself up, nose brushing hers. "You're still the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."</p><p>She looks at him, and his golden eyes search hers. She sees the flecks of warm brown in his gaze, the gentle slope of his nose reflecting Shu's, and finds she can't bring herself to pull away. Zuko's hand comes up to cup her cheek, and he breathes <em> Katara </em>against her cheek before he kisses her softly. </p><p>
  <em> I'll find you again, in this life or the next. </em>
</p><p>Something light flutters in Katara's soul, and she leans into Zuko's warmth. She knows the feeling- it's the same one she felt the moment Shu had kissed Oma, the moment she realized she knew what love was. It's the same with Zuko, and she finds that it still tastes just as sweet.</p><p>~0~</p><p>The flight to the Fire Nation palace is tense. Zuko doesn't speak much, and Katara is reminded of the time when they flew to Yon Rha. There's a similar sense of urgency on this trip as well, but a dark cloud hovers over him, and his shoulders are hunched.</p><p>"Do you remember," she says, and he looks over at her. "When we first went into the tunnels?"</p><p>He frowns, but then a light flickers in his eyes. "You were wearing a green kimono," he recalls, and she sees the spirit of Shu in his eyes as he retreats into the past. "And we learned from the badger moles how to change the tunnels, so that we didn't get followed."</p><p>"San tried to follow me," she muses, and Zuko snorts. "I remember how he used to trod after me, how he tried to force himself on me. You closed the tunnels around him so that he could never find his way out."</p><p>Zuko coughs. "I was in love with you," he argues. "I would have done anything to protect you."</p><p>She leans closer, shuffling to his heat. "And now?" She asks. He blinks, looking at her, and she licks her lips. "Do you love me now?"</p><p>He sighs. "I've loved you since before I even knew who you were," he breathes, and then he leans in, kissing her softly, winding one hand in her hair. Zuko kisses in the same way he speaks to her, hesitant and soft at first, gentle in the way his lips press against hers, then more fiercely. She gasps into his mouth, and he pulls away, eyes dark. "Even when we first met, and I had no idea who you were," he rasps. "I was drawn to you. And now, knowing who we are, I realize that the love I have for you transcends time. It's as simple as that. I love you, Katara, for as long as I can remember, and longer still, and <em> that </em> is why I want you at my side when I bring my sister down."</p><p>She doesn't say anything, but she doesn't need to. They've known each other too well by now for her to have to use words to convey how she feels, so she slips her hand into his and squeezes. Zuko's eyes soften, and he leans his forehead into hers, breathing out a <em> thank you </em> against her cheek.</p><p>He says it once more after she's healed him, his blood running down her wrists as she pumps his chest, frantically trying to keep his heart beating. There's a star splattered across his skin, and his flesh is seared and raw from where the lightning hit him. Katara can still hear Azula's screams, but she can't bring herself to focus on the insane princess. Not while Zuko is lying here, deathly still, an echo of Shu with his chest shattered and Katara's heart in pieces. </p><p>It's all too similar. Shu died trying to get to Oma, to protect her as their villages consumed each other. Zuko took lightning that was meant for Katara, and now the love of her life is once again fighting to breathe from the tattered remains of his ruined chest.</p><p>But this is not the past. Zuko is not Shu, and Katara is not Oma, she is not an earthbender. Katara is a waterbender from the South Pole, a waterbender who's hands can fight and heal at the same time. So she pulls on every water particle around her, from the water in Zuko's blood to the tears running down her face, and pours her love into her hands. Zuko's chest glows as her bending gets to work, and he groans, chest arching up as she forces his heart back into a gentle rhythm. </p><p>(She won't have a repeat of what happened last. She can't go through this again, to relive the nightmare of losing him. She won't. They didn't get this second chance just for her to lose him again.)</p><p>He stirs, and Katara relinquishes her bending to hug him instead, burying her face into his neck and breathing in his earthen musk. A weak arm wraps around her, and he breathes into her ear, <em> thank you </em>.</p><p>"Don't leave me," she tells him. "Please, you can't."</p><p>He coughs, and she pulls away enough for her to kiss him, ignoring the taste of blood and metal on his lips. "<em> Don't leave me again </em>."</p><p>"I won't," is what he manages. "I promise. This won't be like last time."</p><p>But it is, because then he closes his eyes, and his heart flutters, and no matter what healing Katara forces onto his skin, he doesn't wake up. His breathing is stilted and irregular, the rise and fall of his chest shallow. </p><p>For Katara, the next few hours fly by in a blur, and she can hardly recall it, save for the faint best of their bond pulsing through her soul. A few Fire Sages help her get Zuko into a room, and she works tirelessly to keep his heart going. Somewhere, amidst all the chaos, she falls asleep, her hand slumped across his chest, and when she wakes, the rest of her family is there.</p><p>She throws herself in Sokka's arms, letting the soothing heat of her brother soak into her skin. She tells them what Zuko did, what he did for her, and Suki and Toph can't hold back the strangled gasps from their throats, turning to look back at the Fire Prince.</p><p>Sokka and Suki take over guard duty, and Toph stubbornly climbs onto Zuko's bed and sits herself next to his head, refusing to move. "Get some rest, Sugar Queen," she tells Katara. "You need it."</p><p>She doesn't protest when Aang leads her to the room right next to Zuko's. "I'm sorry," he tells her as she climbs onto the bed. "I never wanted this for you."</p><p>She sighs, and he sits down cautiously while she crawls under the covers. "I only just got him back," she whispers. "I can't lose him again Aang. This time, it would actually kill me."</p><p>He comes closer, wrapping his arms around her, and she loses her composure, tucking her face into the crook of his neck and crying. He presses a kiss to her hair, soothingly stroking her back, and rocks her gently. </p><p>"The spirits didn't give you a second chance just for you to lose him again," Aang tells her. "Zuko is strong, and you're the best healer I know. They won't take him away from you again."</p><p>She blinks back tears and looks up at him. He smiles down gently at her, gray eyes betraying the wisdom of his ancient soul, and Katara thinks that in another life, in another universe, if she were just Katara and he were just Aang, she might have loved him. </p><p>"How do you know?" She asks. "Did you visit the spirit world?"</p><p>Aang shakes his head. "No, I didn't," he confesses. "But when you're the Avatar, it's kind of your job to understand all the little things spirits do. Spirits don't reincarnate people just to have them die again."</p><p>She rubs her eyes. "Then why won't he wake up?" She asks. </p><p>Aang sighs. "You saw what the lightning did to me, Katara," he says. "You had to use spirit energized water to bring me back. You may have healed his physical wounds, but it's going to take a lot of time for the rest of him to recover."</p><p>She shakes her head stubbornly. "I can't lose him, Aang," she says. "He's got to wake up."</p><p>Aang rubs her back. "I'll try to commune with the spirits tonight," he offers. "I'll see what I can find out, if there is a way of pulling him back out. But you need to rest too, Katara. I'll come get you as soon as I come back."</p><p>She nods mutely, and Aang departs, closing the door quietly behind him. Once he's gone, Katara curls in on herself under the sheets, closing her eyes. "Zuko," she breathes, and tears slide down her cheeks. "I can't lose you." </p><p>~0~</p><p>When Katara opens her eyes, she’s standing in a murky swamp, the dim light filtering in through the tree branches and illuminating the green of the water surrounding her. For a moment, she thinks she’s back in the swamp of the Earth Kingdom, but then a gauzy creature floats by, with a see-through silver body and wings like gossamer thread, and she realizes that this must be the spirit world.</p><p>One look at her reflection in the water and she starts. It’s not hers-Katara’s- face that blinks back at her, but rather a young woman with thick black hair and bright green eyes. She’s not Katara here in the spirit world- but rather, her original form, her first form. She is Oma.</p><p>She wanders through the world, marveling at the spirits she can see. There’s a monkey meditating on a stump in the distance, and when she explores further, she thinks she can spot Heibai trotting through the trees.</p><p>She wonders how she arrived here. When she had fallen asleep, the last thing she expected was to end up in the spirit world of all places. It’s rather unheard of, for random people to just <em> land </em> in the spirit world (Sokka is an exception- the poor boy was dragged in here against his will), but she suspects that she was pulled here for a reason.</p><p>She gets her answer soon enough. She spies a filtering through the trees and stumbles for the brighter light, pushing her way through the muck and branches, until she stumbles out into a clearing, a cave wreathed in lichen sitting in the center. When her eyes adjust, she registers the beautiful girl floating before her, wreathed in pale purple silks and her silver hair floating around her like a halo. Bright blue eyes regard her with warmth and love.</p><p>“Yue?” She asks, heart rising in her throat.</p><p>The moon spirit’s eyes soften. “To many of the beings that roam this world,” she says, floating closer to her. “I am known as Tui. But to an old friend, you can call me whatever you’d like.” The moon spirit reaches for her hand, her touch as cool and as gentle as a beam of starlight. “After all, I’d recognize that soul anywhere.”</p><p>“You recognize me?”</p><p>Yue laughs. “The ancient spirit that I became knew you long ago as someone else,” she says. She gestures to Oma’s face, touches Oma’s hair. “You are Oma, an ancient soul from days long ago, a legendary earthbender of her time. But I knew you as Katara, waterbender of the South Pole, friend of the Avatar and Sokka’s sister.” The spirit's voice falters as she whispers the Water Tribe warrior's name, and Katara understands. It's hard to be separated from the one you love. </p><p>Katara shudders. “It feels so strange,” she whispers, and Yue’s gaze tightens. “I feel all of Oma’s memories, all of her emotions and the pain she went through, but it feels almost... invasive. I’m Katara, I’m my own person-”</p><p>“You are Oma,” Yue cuts in, voice gentle but firm. “And you are also Katara. Do not fret about invading in on your previous life, or that Oma’s memories will prevent you from living your current one. The spirits did not grant you rebirth to fret about which life is worth living. Oma’s time is over, but yours has just begun.”</p><p>Katara blinks. “Then why did they reincarnate me?”</p><p>Yue sighs. “Because you are still Oma, even if you are Katara. Your previous life lost her love, and this is your chance to get it back. Just because Oma lost Shu does not mean Katara loses Zuko. This is your chance to rewrite history.”</p><p>“But how do I know that my feelings- my own, not Oma’s- are for Zuko alone, and not for Shu?” the words are out of her mouth before she can even think, but once she's processed what she said, she can already see the lies in her words. She doesn't believe them, not one bit, and judging from the look Yue gives her, neither does the moon spirit.</p><p>Yue squeezes her hand. “Tell me, Katara,” she breathes, and Katara loses herself in the deep blue oceans of Yue’s eyes. “Do you really believe that your feelings for Zuko are based truly on Oma’s love for Shu?”</p><p>Katara pauses. She thinks of Zuko, sitting next to her at the Western Air Temple, his shoulder a warm comfort against hers. Of Zuko, doing the laundry and keeping the fire hot, of Zuko, training with her, fighting with all his strength, treating her like an equal. Of Zuko, bonding with Aang and Toph and Sokka, teaching her brother dual swordplay. She thinks of Zuko fighting Azula to protect her, jumping in front of lightning. There’s a starburst of scarlet painted across his chest for her, and the look Zuko had given her is seared in her brain. Relief and love brushed across his golden gaze and a whisper of <em> thank you </em>fluttering on lips, and she remembers the way her heart pounded and her vision burned white when she realized that he was alive. She blinks up at Yue in wonder, and the spirit smiles knowingly.</p><p>“You have the greatest love story ever told,” Yue says. “You have been able to love the same person across two different lifetimes. It’s a love that exceeds time, lasting longer than tomorrow and farther than eternity. The love Oma and Shu held for each other carried on to this lifetime, but it is the love between you, Katara, and Zuko, that keeps it going.”</p><p>"I know that," Katara murmurs. "At first, when I found out who he was in this lifetime, I wanted to hate him. I <em> needed </em>to hate him. But no matter what he did, what he said, or who he hurt, I couldn't. Because the part of my soul that was linked to his could never hate him."</p><p>Yue smiles. "And that's how you know love is true," Yue murmurs. "Not by your past lives, not by money, or power, or greed. But by the faith in your soul that is able to overcome even the worst hardships. Your love is strong, Katara, and it is beautiful. Your love saved Shu, moving the spirits so much so that they granted your past lives another chance. Your love, Katara, saved Zuko from making the wrong decisions, and it is your love, Katara, that saved him from a brutal death."  </p><p>Katara shakes her head. “I still need to save him,” she confesses. “I may have saved him from succumbing to Azula's lightning, but he still won't wake. Can you help me?”</p><p>Yue’s expression turns grave. “He took lightning to the chest while free falling,” the spirit murmurs. “A blow like that would rip the soul from the body and cast it into oblivion. Most people could not survive.”</p><p>Katara shakes her head. “I saved him,” she says. “I brought him back. He needs to come back. I can’t lose him.” Her voice trembles. “Not again.”</p><p>Yue nods. “Zuko has a strong spirit,” she says. “The bond tying your souls together kept him from being destroyed, and Shu’s soul led him here, holding him in stasis while his physical body tries to recover.” Yue gestures to the cave behind her, where a curtain of lichen sways softly in the breeze, preventing Katara from seeing within. “He’s waiting for you, if you’re ready to see him.”</p><p>Katara stares, and Yue floats to the side, giving her full access to the cave. Now that she’s aware, she can feel a tugging on her soul, a little voice calling out for her, calling her home. Now she knows Zuko lies beyond, the warmth of his spirit calling her name. </p><p>She turns to Yue, finding the spirit’s soft gaze on hers. “He threw himself in front of lightning for me,” she whispers. “Not for Oma, for me.”</p><p>Yue smiles. “Love is the most powerful thing in this universe, Katara,” she murmurs, her deep eyes growing heavy with memories. “We do anything to protect the ones we love. We sacrifice our own lives for love, and sometimes, we even risk death for it.”</p><p>Sokka. Katara thinks of the Northern princess, sacrificing her life to save her people, to save Sokka from a terrible world of fire. She thinks of the Northern princess with moonlight in her hair, of Sokka, the way his blue eyes dimmed in sadness when he lost his first love. “We do,” Katara murmurs. “But we never forget those we love either.” </p><p>Yue blinks at her. “Sokka still loves you,” Katara says. “He’ll never forget you.”</p><p>The moon spirit smiles. “I’ll always be with him,” she replies. “No matter what happens, Sokka is blessed with the moonlight, and I'll do everything in my power to protect him and all the ones he loves.” Her eyes soften. "Suki is a brave warrior. I leave Sokka in her capable hands, but I will always watch over him. Anything for the one I once loved.".</p><p>Katara turns back to the cave. “We do anything for the ones we love,” she echoes in a faint whisper. Behind her, Yue nods.</p><p>"Yes," she says, and Katara looks back to see the moon spirit fading. "Now go, he's waiting."</p><p>She brushes past the lichen, letting the softness curl over her skin like a lover’s caress. The cave is dark, but it takes only moments for Katara’s eyes to adjust. Zuko lies before her, wreathed in a bed of moss, his hands folded over his chest. When Katara inches closer, her soul greedily reaching for his, she touches his face and finds that it’s not Zuko’s face before her, but actually Shu’s, with his brown hair and unblemished face. But she sees Zuko in Shu, and can feel the familiarity of his soul as easily as she can see the familiarity of Shu’s image.</p><p>“I’m here,” she whispers, and bends down, pressing her lips to the corner of his mouth. “Come back to me.”</p><p>Zuko- and Shu- gasps, eyes flying open, and he shoots up. Katara’s heart pounds, and she can feel Oma rising within her, crying out for Shu. When his eyes finally land on her, he immediately reaches out, and the gasp that is torn from his throat echoes the pounding rhythm of Katara’s heart.</p><p>“Oma?”</p><p>She nods, reaching out and grasping him in a tight hug. It’s Zuko’s arms that come around her, but Katara can feel Oma and Shu embracing in the same way she and Zuko are. </p><p>"What happened?" Zuko asks, pulling away from her. His eyes are wild and scared, but when he looks at her, they soften, and his hands card gently through her hair.</p><p>"Thank you," a voice says from behind them, and Katara whirls. She gasps, hands flying up to her throat, and the woman who spoke smiles at her.</p><p>"You saved him," Oma tells her, green eyes softening. Beside her, stands Shu, strong and proud, and the look he gives Katara is nothing short of fond. "You saved us."</p><p>Beside her, Zuko sucks in a breath, and she turns, finding that his face is his again, and his golden eyes find hers. She sees herself reflected back in his golden gaze, and chokes on her breath.</p><p>"Thank you, dear child," Oma says, gliding towards Katara. She takes her hand, green boring into blue. "You and I have not led easy lives, have we not?"</p><p>Katara shakes her head, and Oma smiles, cupping Katara's cheek. "You and I are one of the same," the earthbender whispers. "But you and I have also pushed through the hardest tumults these lives have to offer. Despite our souls being the same, my young Katara, you are far stronger than anyone, myself included. You saved our love. Now it's time to live yours."</p><p>"What?" Katara asks, but Oma smiles at her, and steps back. Shu takes her place, and pulls her into a warm hug. Katara blinks, inhaling the earthen smell that bore resemblance to Zuko's, and leans into Shu's warmth.</p><p>"Take care of him," Shu murmurs into her ear. "We've waited so long to get our chance. Here's yours."</p><p>Shu steps back, and Zuko takes his place, arm coming around her shoulders. Shu looks on, and Oma comes forward, and Katara can see the resemblance in their faces. She has Oma's sloping nose, her high cheekbones. And there's something in Oma's eyes, some burning light, that reminds her of her own.</p><p>"Take care, young ones," Oma whispers. Her eyes lock onto Katara's, and she smiles. "Live your lives."</p><p>Katara wakes, heart pounding in her throat, and shoots up. Her eyes widen, and she clutches at her chest. There's an emptiness lingering in the space between her mind and her soul, a silent void where memories used to haunt.</p><p>Oma is gone.</p><p>A part of her yearns for the soul of the woman who she once was, but she knows that Oma is happy now, reunited with Shu in the spirit world. Without the memory of Oma hanging off her, she is free, and that means so is-</p><p>She flies off the bed, sprinting towards the door and slamming it open. The guards by her door shout in alarm, but she sprints past them, running down the hall to Zuko's room. When she arrives, the guards there start at her appearance, but she pays them no mind.</p><p>She bursts into the room, expecting to find Sokka, or Suki sitting by Zuko's bedside. Neither are there, not even Toph, and what Katara finds is Zuko sitting up in bed, his chest wrapped in fresh bandages, looking up at her with burning eyes.</p><p>"Zuko," she cries, and launches herself onto the bed. He grunts under her weight, but his arms come up around her, pulling her into his hard chest. Katara buries her face into his neck, and there's earth and fire filling her senses. "Thank the spirits. How long have you been awake?"</p><p>"Not long," he murmurs. He raises a hand, cupping her cheek, and searches her face. "Was that...real?"</p><p>She blinks. "So you saw it too?" </p><p>He nods. "I felt this emptiness in my soul from the moment I woke up," he says, and when Katara searches his eyes, she finds no trace of Shu reflected back at her. "Where is he?"</p><p>(The loss of her first life, and theirs, doesn't hurt as much as she expected it to. There's an emptiness within her, a part devoid of emotions and memories of days long past, but the void within her doesn't feel empty. Maybe because she knows that they're happy, wherever they are, and that they can finally rest in peace. Maybe it's because she's always going to hold a part of them in her heart, because Katara is a girl born from the blood and tears of an ancient love, the memory of who they are woven deep within her bones. Maybe it's because she still has Zuko's love, and always will. Maybe because, she and Zuko are living replicas of Oma and Shu, and this time, they make it.)</p><p>"Their souls are settled," she tells Zuko, the sureness in her heart falling from her lips as easy as she breathes. "Now that they've found peace, we're free to live our lives however we see fit."</p><p>He frowns. "However we see fit," he echoes. </p><p>Katara leans into him, careful of his wound. "You came back to me," she whispers. "You came back."</p><p>He smiles into her hair. "I promised you I would, didn't I? Wherever you go, I'll always follow."</p><p>She kisses his throat. "I know," she says. "You always keep your promises."</p><p>She rests against him, fingers dancing across the scar on his chest, and he hums, heart fluttering under her fingers. "What happens now?"</p><p>Zuko sighs, shifting her so she settles against his side. "Now I take the throne," he says. "And we figure out where we go from here."</p><p>She squeezes his hand. "Together," she says, and he looks at her, eyes glittering with warmth.</p><p>"Together."</p><p>~0~</p><p>Zuko is crowned on the last day of summer, with the blazing sun scorching down on his shoulders. The crowd cheers for him, but all Zuko remembers from the ceremony is Katara's warm gaze locked on his. Or so he tells her.</p><p>Sokka, Suki and Toph leave shortly after his coronation, Toph leaving for Gaoling and Sokka and Suki returning to Kyoshi. Suki leaves with two hundred gold talents from Zuko's own coffers to help the reconstruction. Sokka leaves with a brand new sword forged in the finest Fire Nation forges. Katara sees them off, hugging her brother and Suki as hard as she can.</p><p>"For what it's worth," Sokka tells her, hand on her shoulder. He looks out at the ship that'll take them South, and his eyes soften. "You seem at your happiest when you're with him. And I'm happy for you."</p><p>Aang stays, helping with the ministers while Zuko recovers. Katara sits with him when she isn't with Zuko, and he tells her what energybending feels like, and how hard it was battling Ozai.</p><p>"You're the one who helped me get through it," he tells her. "You've suffered for so long, and yet you've always pushed through. Whether as Oma, or as you are Katara, you're the reason I was able to find my courage to defeat Ozai."</p><p>She tells him that Oma and Shu departed, separating themselves from Katara and Zuko and finding peace in the spirit world. Aang's eyes shimmer, and he wipes away a tear. </p><p>"I'm so happy for them," he murmurs. "But what about you? What will you do now?"</p><p>She smiles. "Stay," she says. "I've found my home here."</p><p>(Home used to be a lost village in the middle of the Earth Kingdom, surrounded by dense forests and a river snaking its way south. Home used to be tunnels under the earth, lit in a ghostly green light, badgermoles showing her how to move the ground and raise the earth. Home used to a be a boy with brown eyes and hair like the night. Home used to be a war torn Earth Kingdom, buried in the arms of a boy whose love was fierce enough to transcend boundaries that would keep them apart.)</p><p>Her home is here in the Fire Nation now, her heart settled next to the very core of the country, her soul forever entwined with a boy of Fire who has roots in the Earth Kingdom. Home is with Zuko, and always has been.</p><p>She finds Zuko later that night, nestled under a cherry tree in a little garden, feeding the turtleducks. She comes out and sits next to him, and his arm immediately comes up around her shoulders.</p><p>"This reminds me of the caves," he murmurs, and she nestles into the warmth of his shoulder. "You and me, and the quiet the peace brings."</p><p>"Maybe we can go back someday," she says, and his hand tightens its grip on her shoulder. "For them."</p><p>(Oma and Shu, two people who never should have met, let alone fall in love. A quiet sanctuary buried under the earth, tranquility in the midst of chaos, a little place to call their own.)</p><p>"I'd like that," Zuko murmurs. Then, "Do you think they're happy?"</p><p>"Of course," she replies, without missing a beat. "They're finally together, after being separated for so long. It's what they always wanted."</p><p>He looks at her, presses his lips to her temple, holds her close. His fingers tap out a steady rhythm on her shoulder, and Katara realizes he's following the beat of her heart, pounding in tandem with his. "This is how they stay alive," she tells him. "We carry their love with us, even after they're gone."</p><p>"Aa," he says, fingers tracing her skin. "It's how <em> we </em> stay alive."</p><p>It's quiet, and Katara breathes in the quiet of the night, the soft breeze bringing with it the scent of ocean waves and wet earth. It brings with it memories that are fading, of a boy with brown eyes and a heart of gold, and a girl who raised cities in his honor. Memories that make up the fabric of who they are, memories that are now tinged with different shades of contentment.</p><p>"What are you thinking?" She murmurs, looking up at Zuko, finding him watching her intently, his golden eyes brighter than the sun. </p><p>“I was thinking about what will come after," he says. "Now that Oma and Shu are gone. What will happen to us after we die? We won't be reborn."</p><p>Katara shrugs, unbothered. “I never asked for reincarnation in the first place," she says. "Neither of us did. Even though the two of us were born from those who came before, we still each led our own individual lives. And we still have a lot of life left to live, and we have a chance to change the future, make it better. I don't need any more rebirths, or immortality. I think I just need you."</p><p>“Me.” Zuko hums in contentment, and turns, looking at her with gentle eyes. “I like that.” And then he leans down, eyes burning, and Katara meets him, pulling herself closer.Their lips meet in the middle, with the moon shining down, surrounded by the quacking of the turtleducks and the promise of a much greater future just beyond their fingertips.</p><p>"I don't need to be reborn," she tells Zuko, fingers curling into the lapels on his tunic. "Not when I'm here with you. Not anymore."</p><p>(<em> We'll never be parted again </em>, she thinks, and thinks of Oma and Shu, forever reunited in the spirit world. They may be gone, but Katara makes a promise. Katara and Zuko will not end like they did. They're going to live.)</p><p>Oma and Shu may be gone, but the memory of the two lovers still sits well on Katara's heart. She carries them in her soul even after they've left, holds their love as close as she does Zuko. Oma and Shu are gone, yes, but she and Zuko are still here. They still have their whole lives ahead of them. </p><p>Katara feels the weight of her past, her present and her future all meet within this moment, illuminated by the night sky, and looks up into Zuko's dark gaze. She sees the love she holds for him reflected back in the gold of his eyes, ancient ghosts of memories lingering in the shadows, and feels her soul shift closer to him. This is her Zuko, her Shu from the past and her love for the future, and nothing can change that.</p><p>The moon glows, but Zuko and Katara continue sitting there, in the beautiful little garden in the heart of the Fire Nation. Katara knows that they should return to the safety of the palace, where her bed calls for safe comfort. The war is over, but now it's time to keep the peace. Problems still exist, and many more will arise, but she decides against moving, instead snuggles into Zuko's side. There's life in her heart and soul, a warm thrumming beating in her chest, reminding her that, despite the ancientness of her spirit, this is the beginning of everything. </p><p>So now, she sits, shoulder to shoulder with her best friend, her soulmate, with a spirit as ancient as her own, and soothes herself to the melody of his heart pounding along with hers. He smiles down at her, pressing a gentle kiss to her lips, and Katara sighs. She's going to prolong this moment for as long as she can, as long as she wants to.</p><p>After all, they’ve got all the time in the world.</p><p>
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  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you thank you thank you to all who have supported me thus far; this was my FIRST ever ZK week and you all made me feel so welcome and gave my fics such love. I cannot thank you enough for sticking with me this entire time.</p><p>This marks the end of ZK week, and I hope I did these lovebirds justice with this last monster of a fic. Please let me know what you thought, and let me know what your favorite moments in this story were (or the other ZK week fics).</p><p>Monsta X's 'Someone's Someone', inspired the convo btw Katara and Zuko.</p><p>And special thanks to <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZutaraWasRobbed/pseuds/ZutaraWasRobbed">ZutaraWasRobbed</a> who helped me expand on this story and turn it from a 6k story to a whopping 20k beast of a story. You're a creature of chaos, my friend, and I love you all the more for it.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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